Safety strap swing seat

ABSTRACT

A safety strap seat includes a seat portion made of a perforated flexible plastic which will bend in use. Two spring steel straps are secured beneath the seat portion, along the longitudinal edges thereof, by passing the straps through keepers which are integrally molded in the seat portion and attaching the ends of the straps to hangers which engage both the ends of the straps and seat portion.

Untted States Patent 1191 1111 3,897,056

Hock et al. July 29, 1975 [54l SAFETY STRAP SWING SEAT 3.124.387 3/l964Maclaren 297/45 3,260,522 7/1966 White et. al. 272/85 [751 Invent: 99"Hemn Raymmd 3,329,466 7/1967 Getz et a1. 297/452 Douglas Wllllam t bothof 3,352,555 11/1967 Phillips 272/85 Du QuOln, all Of lll. 3,486,751l2/l969 Hatfield et a]. 272/85 [73] Assignee: Turco ManufacturingCompany, Du

Quoin, Ill. Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkharn Assistant ExaminerT.Brown [22] Filed 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Edward F. Levy [211 App].No: 406,894

[57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl 272/85; 297/45 [51] Int. Cl A63g 9/00 A Safetystrap seat mcludes a seat porno made of a [58] Field of Search 272/85,86, 87, 88 89 perforated flexible plastic which will bend in use. Two

spring steel straps are secured beneath the seat por- 277 5 2. 124 tion,along the longitudinal edges thereof, by passing 7 y 6 the strapsthrough keepers which are integrally molded in the seat portion andattaching the ends of [56] References Cited the straps to hangers whichengage both the ends of UNITED STATES PATENTS the straps andseatportlon.

1,975,262 10/1934 Evans et al. 272/85 8 Claims, 5 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDJULZQISYS 3, 897, 056

I n u n y n SAFETY STRAP SWING SEAT some resulting in serious injuries,when children stand the reinforcing straps. The seat portion and thereining near conventional swings have been struck bythese heavy rigidswing seats. Attempts have been made to minimize the injury resultingfrom this type of accident by providing a swing seat that is light inweight and flexible through the use of a flexible material such asfabric, leather or rubber for the swingseat. These flexible swing seatshave, however, introduced a new danger. The flexible swing seatsprovided up until now have had a tendency to weaken and break afterbeing subjected to hard use and after being exposedjto outdoor weatherextremes. This tendency is especially dangerous since these flexibleswing seats tend to weaken gradually over a period of time and theweakened condition of such swing seats often remains unnoticed until afailure occurs while a child is using the swing seat and a' accidentoccurs. In such accidents a child may be subjected to serious injury ifthe flexible swing seat breaks and the child is thrown to the ground ata time when the amplitude of motion of the swing is at or near a peak.

Another disadvantage of conventional flexible swing seats is that theyassume a permanent set in a curved or bent configuration as a result oftheir own weight, thus tending to pull the support ropes close togetherwith the result that before seating himself on the seat portion thechild must separate the ropes and thenhold them separated as he seatshimself.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to overcome thedisadvantages of present flexible swing seats by providing a safetystrap seat incorporating flexible metal reinforcing straps whichpreventa failure of the seat portion.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a flexible,reinforced seat which forms around the child with a non-skid grippingeffect for added stability. Rigid seatshave a tendency to tip forward orbackward if the child is not seated properly. Another advantage of thepresent invention is that the flexing allows the seat to adjust to thesize of the occupant and locates the support chains or ropes in properreach of the child while also centering the child in the swing seat.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a safetystrap seat incorporating spring steel re inforcing straps which flex inuse and which tend to maintain the safety strap seat in a relativelyflat configuration when the seat is not in use.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of alightweight safety strap seat adapted for manufacture by high volumemolding techniques and ease of assembly, resulting in low manufacturingcosts.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a safety strap seatincluding a seat portion having a gen erally rectangular configurationmade of molded flexible plastic. A pair of spring steel straps aresecured, one each, along the longitudinal edges of the seat portionbeneath the seat portion by passing the strap through a plurality ofkeeper portions which are integrally molded in the seat portion. A pairof steel hangers are provided for attaching the safety strap seat tosupporting means. The hangers are attached to the seat portion bypassing through aligned holes in the seat portion and forcing. strapsflex when the strap seat is in use and the reinforcing straps tend torestore thesafety strap seat .to a relatively flat conflgurationwhen theweight of the child is removed from the seatportion.

. Additional objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent during the course of the following specification when taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a swing incorporating the safety strapseat of the present invention, and showing achild seated thereon;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the safety strap seat of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the safety strap seat of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section taken along line 44 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of the safety strap seat'ofFIG. 2, showing the attachment of the hanger to the seat portion.

Referring to FIG. 1, the safety strap seat 10 in accordance with theinvention is shown in use attached to a pair of support ropes 12 and 14which are suspended from a swing support frame 16. The safety strap seat10 is shown as flexing under the weight of the child 18 seated thereon.As shown in FIG. 3, the safety strap seat 10 includes a seat portion 20,a pair of reinforcing straps 22 and 24 and a pair of hangers 26 and 28.The reinforcing straps 22 and 24 are threaded through a plurality ofkeeper portions 30 which are integrally molded on the seat portion 20.

The keeper portions 30 have a generally U-shaped configuration andextend vertically downward from the bottom surface 32 of the seatportion 20 so as to extend horizontally under the reinforcing straps 22and 24 as shown in FIG. 4. Each of the keeper portions 30 is disposeddirectly below a rectangular hole 34 which has its longer dimensionperpendicular to the longer dimension of the seat portion 20. The holes34 serve to increase the flexibility of the seat portion 20. Projectingrib portions 36 and 38 are provided in the bottom surface 32 of the seatportion 20 having a depth, width and length slightly greater than thecorresponding dimensions of the respective reinforcing straps 22 and 24for the purpose of bordering and containing the reinforcing straps 22and 24and preventing unwanted contact with edges 40 and 42 ofreinforcing straps 22 and 24. A ridge 39 is provided, spaced inward fromthe marginal edge 66 on the top surface 68 of the seat portion 20, toprovide a non-slip seat surface.

A plurality of rectangular holes 44 is provided along the center line ofthe seat portion 20 for the purpose of increasing the flexibility of theseat portion 20. The rectangular holes 44 are disposed in two groups oneat each end of the seat portion 20, with the center portion 45 of theseat 20 unperforated. The rectangular holes 44 cause the safety strapseat 10 to bend non-uniformly with the center part 45 remainingrelatively flatter than the end parts since the center part 45 is notperforated and is consequently less flexible. This non-uniform bendingcauses the safety strap seat to conform more closely to the buttocks ofa child user and provides a more comfortable seat than if the seat wereto be uniformly flexible as is the case for conventional flexible swingseats.

Apertures 46 and 52 at the ends of the seat portion 20 are provided inalignment with corresponding apertures 54 and 60 respectively inreinforcing strap 24 and apertures 48 and 50 in the seat portion 20 areprovided in alignment with apertures 56 and 58, respectively, inreinforcing strap 22. Hangers 26 and 28 are made of heavy steel wire andhave end portions 62 which pass through the seat portion 20 and thereinforcing straps 22 and 24 with each of the end portions 62 passingthrough an aligned hole in the seat portion 20 and a reinforcing strap22 or 24 as detailed above, then forming a closed loop 63, as shown inFIG. 5. The hangers 26 and 28 thus secure the reinforcing strap 22 and24 to the seat portion 20 and the safety strap seat is provided as acompletely assembled unit which cannot be misassembled or misused by aconsumer. The hangers 26 and 28 each have a central curved portion 64adapted for attachment of supporting means, for example ropes, chains orthe like.

The seat portion is made of a light plastic material meeting thefollowing requirements: ease of fabrication by means of molding,flexibility, and good resistance to damage due to exposure to outdoorweather. In the preferred embodiment the seat portion is made ofpolyvinyl chloride and the reinforcing straps 22 and 24 are made ofspring steel, thus resulting in a unit which combines flexibility andrelatively great tensile strength. The straps 22 and 24 not onlyreinforce the plastic seat portion to prevent breakage thereof, but alsotend to maintain the safety strap seat 10 in a relatively flatconfiguration when the weight of the child 18 is removed. Thisrelatively flat configuration of the safety strap seat 10 is anadvantage as the seat portion 20 maintains the separation of the supportropes l2 and 14, thus making it relatively easy for children to seatthemselves directly on the seat portion 20 without having to separatethe support ropes 12 and 14 as is required in conventional flexibleseats which tend to remain in a bent configuration with the supportropes 12 and 14 close together.

The reinforcing straps 22 and 24, being made of spring steel, bendfreely with the safety strap seat 10. As a result when a child 18 sitson the safety strap seat 10 a position of equilibrium is reached whereinthe safety strap seat 10 conforms to the body of the child and grips itwith a non-slipping effect. The flexibility of the seat, with itsmounted reinforcing straps, permits the seat to adjust to the body ofthe occupant, regardless of its size, locates the supporting chains orropes within easy reach of the occupant, and centers the child in theswing seat.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown anddescribed herein, it is obvious that numerous omissions, changes andadditions may be made in such embodiment without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A safety strap swing seat comprising a flexible rectangular seatportion made of a flexible molded plastic, at least one resilient andbendable spring steel reinforcing strap formed separately from said seatportion and disposed parallel to the longitudinal edges of said flexiblerectangular seat portion, attachment means for attaching saidreinforcing strap to said flexible rectangular seat portion with saidstrap extending flat against the lowermost surface of said seat portionand in a plane parallel thereto, said strap being bendable with saidseat portion under the weight of a person, and hanger means disposedalong transverse edges of said flexible rectangular seat portion for thepurpose of attaching said safety strap seat to supporting means.

2. A safety strap seat according to claim 1 which includes a pair ofreinforcing straps each disposed along a respective longitudinal edge ofsaid rectangular seat portion.

3. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein said attachmentmeans comprise a plurality of spaced keeper portions disposed beneathsaid flexible rectangular seat portion and depending from the bottomsurface thereof, said reinforcing straps being sized to pass throughsaid keeper portions.

4. A safety strap seat according to claim 3 wherein said plurality ofkeeper portions and said flexible rectangular seat portion form anintegrally molded unit.

5. A safety strap seat according to claim 3 in which said keeperportions are U-shaped and have ends secured to the lower surface of saidseat portion.

6. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein said flexiblerectangular seat portion and said resilient reinforcing straps havealigned holes and wherein said hanger means comprise a pair of formedmembers each having two ends, with each end passing through an alignedhole in said flexible rectangular seat portion and said reinforcingstrap and having an open ring portion for attachment of support means.

'1. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein said flexiblerectangular seat portion includes a portion defining a pair of recessedareas, said resilient reinforcing straps being disposed within saidrespective recessed areas.

8. A safety strap seat according to claim 1 wherein said flexiblerectangular seat portion includes end portions each having a pluralityof holes and an unperforated center portion for the purpose ofincreasing the flexibility of said end portions beyond that of said center portion.

1. A safety strap swing seat comprising a flexible rectangular seatportion made of a flexible molded plastic, at least one resilient andbendable spring steel reinforcing strap formed separately from said seatportion and disposed parallel to the longitudinal edges of said flexiblerectangular seat portion, attachment means for attaching saidreinforcing strap to said flexible rectangular seat portion with saidstrap extending flat against the lowermost surface of said seat portionand in a plane parallel thereto, said strap being bendable with saidseat portion under the weight of a person, and hanger means disposedalong transverse edges of said flexible rectangular seat portion for thepurpose of attaching said safety strap seat to supporting means.
 2. Asafety strap seat according to claim 1 which includes a pair ofreinforcing straps each disposed along a respective longitudinal edge ofsaid rectangular seat portion.
 3. A safety strap seat according to claim2 wherein said attachment means comprise a plurality of spaced keePerportions disposed beneath said flexible rectangular seat portion anddepending from the bottom surface thereof, said reinforcing straps beingsized to pass through said keeper portions.
 4. A safety strap seataccording to claim 3 wherein said plurality of keeper portions and saidflexible rectangular seat portion form an integrally molded unit.
 5. Asafety strap seat according to claim 3 in which said keeper portions areU-shaped and have ends secured to the lower surface of said seatportion.
 6. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein saidflexible rectangular seat portion and said resilient reinforcing strapshave aligned holes and wherein said hanger means comprise a pair offormed members each having two ends, with each end passing through analigned hole in said flexible rectangular seat portion and saidreinforcing strap and having an open ring portion for attachment ofsupport means.
 7. A safety strap seat according to claim 2 wherein saidflexible rectangular seat portion includes a portion defining a pair ofrecessed areas, said resilient reinforcing straps being disposed withinsaid respective recessed areas.
 8. A safety strap seat according toclaim 1 wherein said flexible rectangular seat portion includes endportions each having a plurality of holes and an unperforated centerportion for the purpose of increasing the flexibility of said endportions beyond that of said center portion.